Minnesota coach Tracy Claeys watches from the sideline during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game against Illinois, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016, at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Ill. (AP Photo/Bradley Leeb)

Tracy Claeys’ decision to back his players’ threatened boycott of the Holiday Bowl is the equivalent of boarding a crowded New York City subway car and yelling: “Hey, can anyone break a hundred dollar bill?’’ Or standing on a chair in a biker bar and screaming: “Everybody shut up! I’m trying to have a conversation here.”

That is to say, it does not bode well for his immediate future.

The threat of the boycott has passed, as the Gophers football players have graciously agreed to compete against Washington State on Dec. 27. All that remains is a miserable, squalid situation that has dragged a rather nondescript football program into the national public eye.

Now it’s a game for lawyers as they spin the circumstances and massage the law. The whole thing will come down to some sort of technicality. It always does. As Clint Eastwood said in the movie “Unforgiven”: “Deserve’s got nothing to do with it.”

Minnesota has aspired to the big time. Now it’s right up there with the likes of Baylor, Colorado, Vanderbilt, Penn State and the United States Naval Academy as an institution associated with a sordid sex scandal. And this one is particularly bad because of how the sides took shape after the incident.

The debate has gone from whether 10 to 20 Gophers football players sexually assaulted someone – they said it was all consensual – to whether the players’ rights were violated by a lack of due process. The players have become potential victims thanks to a terrific bit of lawyering.

Hennepin County prosecutors declined to file charges, saying there wasn’t sufficient evidence of force. The university’s internal investigation, however, has more leeway and, as a result, recommended expulsions and suspensions. Ten players currently are suspended. University President Eric Kaler and athletics director Mark Coyle signed off on that. But the players threatened to boycott.

Claeys tweeted: “Have never been more proud of our kids. I respect their rights & support their efforts to make a better world.”

My question is: Consensual or not, how does he feel about the image of 10 to 20 of his players lined up down the hallway to take their turn with a woman who claims to have been inebriated? What are his thoughts on the video that has emerged from the incident? What about the texts his players exchanged afterward in an effort to hush-up what happened?

The incident just doesn’t square with the grandiose holistic approach to be a student-athlete. Furthermore, there isn’t an athlete on any campus in America that hasn’t been warned about the perils of such behavior. Technically legal or not, certain behavior can lead to suspension or expulsion. They all know that.

Claeys seems to be a decent guy and a decent coach. He also is a guy who is not on a long-term contract and who has a relatively cheap buyout. He basically put himself in the crosshairs of Kaler and Coyle by not supporting their position while praising his players attempt to boycott. Linebacker coach Mike Sherels aligned himself in support of Claeys.

On Saturday, the University and Kaler released a statement saying, in part:

“Coaches are in a challenging position. They need to support their players. … At the same time, they need to be responsible for their actions, and there are times in which those two demands put coaches in very difficult positions … (W)e’ll talk about that with them and try to improve both their understanding and our understanding.”

I don’t see Claeys surviving or most of the suspensions ever being lifted. It will take years to repair Minnesota’s reputation, such as it was in the wake of the Norwood Teague fiasco and after its callous treatment of former coach Jerry Kill. In fact, the school is becoming something of a national punchline, which I’m sure the various professors really appreciate.

As for what’s next, I don’t even want to know. Nothing good or decent can come from any of this. There is no positive resolution. Consensual, non-consensual … Is this really how we are going to separate the good guys from the bad guys in this repugnant situation? The only thing worth wondering about is what the new coach will be like.

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